Michael, conscious that there is no doubt a lot that has been done behind
the scenes that is not the focus of your post, let me say that if your
general population is not already aware of your effort to develop policy,
retention planning and supporting procedures, then the program may have some
challenges ahead with compliance.  Where possible, building user
participation into development can mean that users have a vested interest in
your success.  If there has been awareness, then you have something to build
on and communication efforts can leverage communications already underway.

Communication strategies I have used (when still "inside") include:
- a newsletter called "The RIM Report" which included a byline from the
Admin director, profiled staff in the RIM branch, positioned initiatives as
enterprise-wide with senior support, targeted clerical and middle levels
with content relevant to each level and not obtainable elsewhere--to ensure
it got read and that clerical staff would learn a bit about the world of
middle management and middle management would appreciate the (often
invisible) effort required of clerical teams.  Relevant, useful quick tips
were included and the tone was positive--made absolutely no jokes about how
awful RM can be and, instead, "assumed" that everyone agreed it is the most
critical resource management activity an organisation can take (right?!). As
leader at the excluded management level, I personally complemented the RIM
Report with an email sent to my senior management colleagues alerting them
to distribution and positioning key items from a management
perspective--illustrating how the program helps the enterprise.

More recently, again on the inside, I urged staff to focus on "naturally
occuring events".  That is, if there is an opening, a launch, a retirement
party, a tour, a facility opening, a quarterly briefing, etc. use it to get
the message out by identifying some aspect of the RIM program that relates
and ensuring the right people are communicating for you.  Virtually anything
has some relationship to managing information. The message does not have to
be heavy handed to start seeing it become integrated into the fibre of the
population.  It does take time and consistency.

For clients, I recommend developing a roadmap that includes a very well
defined communication strategy that identifies all target groups, the
message that is appropriate for each, the naturally occuring events, the
events you can create/sponsor, the methods (newsletter, emails, blogs,
wikis, portals) you can employ, the motivators that are relevant in your
context for each group to be motivated, as well as the measures that enable
you to both know and report on your success.  This is a very, very detailed
and comprehensive approach that, in one case, went as far as providing 
specific text proposals for well timed emails from the CEO to senior
colleagues, and ensuring that a facility tour took an executive board member
through an area he would not usually have seen, so that he both had a chance
to meet people doing the work and see their conditions of employment.  All
done with the most positive approach--with very positive results.  

Key in everything is deciding who needs to know what, and why, and what can
encourage the investment of time and energy in the direction you want.  Map
that out, and you are on your way.  (If you are a true hero, you can do it
without typos--quite beyond me!)

Good luck!  Go forth and record ;-)

John James O'Brien, CR, MALT
Partner & Director, IRM Strategies Hong Kong
Asc. Partner, S4K Research Stockholm
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